The hat worked!
Pattern: Rose Red by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool DK, shade 003 anthracite
Yarn from: Liberty (reclaimed from an unsuccessful hat I tried to knit for Deri. His is still … pending)
Needles: 3.0mm bamboo DPNs, 40cm and 60cm circ.s
Cast on: 16 August 2012
Cast off: 18 August 2012
I cannot tell you how much I loved knitting this. It is the cleverest pattern I have ever knit. You start with the i-cord sticky-outy-bit, and suddenly cables and lace start forming beneath your needles, which grow into flowers, more cables, and finally the brim, until you have a hat in your hands.
I knit from the charts, rather than the written directions, and thank goodness for them because otherwise it might have seemed quite complicated! (I do love a knitter who gives good chart). As it was, this was all-encompassing knitting. Between the chart and the magically growing hat I could not think about anything else. Perfect commuting knitting!
The yarn was probably not the best choice for this pattern. I was keen to use up some yarn which had been sitting around in my workbox since my grand designs for Deri’s hat hadn’t worked out, and have seen lots of beautiful Pure Wool Rose Reds on Ravelry, but for my knitting style it is not lofty or flouncy enough to make the slouchy beret I was dreaming of. That said, Rowan’s Pure Wool is a really fantastic yarn, and the fact that the hat, trundling between suitcase, pocket, and head on quite a few occasions, has maintained its slightly severe I-was-blocked-on-a-plate shape, speaks volumes for more structured projects.
All in all, I am very happy with this hat. And now I have cracked the hat problem, I had better start making one for Deri…
wow, that’s gorgeous! and the color is dreamy, too.